Singing Union Songs Since 2009

Category Archives: children

I finalized our Read Aloud Project book list for 2014. The kids and I doubled our book total this year for a grand total of 52 books. At least half of the books were audiobooks which the kids vastly prefer to the radio these days. I can’t say as I blame them and we even converted Daddy over to the audiobook side.

I completed my Book a Week (BAW) challenge in October with double my original goal of 104. Since October I managed to finish three additional new books and seven re-reads for a total of 114 books this year. I also have three books I’m currently working on – two of which I could conceivably finish before the end of the year. 114 is a pretty decent finish all things considered.

If I add the 52 read alouds from the kids’ list to my list, I’ve read 166 books in 2014 (not including those we’ve read for school subjects or picture books with the girls). Not a bad way to spend a year!

I’m calling it quits for the year with our read alouds a few days early. 2014’s list is up and 2013’s list is finalized with a few geeky number-y bits. I blame E. Nesbit’s “The Enchanted Castle” which on its face seems like such a wonderful book, but in practice is not easy to read aloud. If it weren’t for the fact that Lou picked it out, I would have dropped it a month ago. Here’s hoping 2014 likes it better!

Another thing that I have settled on declaring finished lately is this here blog. I’m not done writing (seeing as writing is a lifelong process), but my writing ambitions are definitely finished. My apologies to those who have commented within the last month or so. I really did mean to get back to you, but the reality is that I won’t. I do feel the tiniest bit sorry about that. Only the tiniest bit, though. Much as I meant to get back to writing here, as time went on I found that what seemed so urgent or necessary before didn’t any longer.

The short version? I still have plenty to say, but I have no desire to say it here.

So, dear reader, my deepest appreciation to all of you for reading along with me. You are certainly welcome to continue, but know that I’m going to be shifting focus and what will follow in this space will primarily be a personal record of next year’s homeschooling. In other words, less blog, more record keeping. Read alouds, units I have created myself, resource lists, etc.

I won’t begrudge you if a litany of lists and records does not thrill you. :0) You have my permission to go therefore and read someone else.

In what feels a bit like a whirlwind of reading, tonight we finished book #7 for the year, Rick Riordan’s “The Lost Hero.” The kids loved this book to pieces and can’t wait for the next one in the series. We’d actually start the next one right away…except that I discovered that we don’t actually own it. Oops!

So…rather than try and wait for it to arrive from inter-library loan or buy it at Target for full price (perish the thought!), the kids are just going to have to wait. In the meantime, book #8 is E.B. White’s “Stuart Little.”

A quick read with a movie on the other side? Yup, they’ll get over it.

So, the kid is in second grade. Yesterday he was working on a practice math test and turned it in today. When I asked him about it this afternoon he said he got six wrong because he has a hard time with fractions.

I asked him to give me an example. He said one problem had two rows of five for a total of ten. Five of them were shaded in. He wrote 1/2 as the answer and it was marked wrong.